Resonance

Striking the right chord with Information,Insight and Innovation !

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Auditophobia!

It all started from our school days , Teacher questioning pupils and the trail continues till one finishes graduation . After crossing innumerable hurdles which were presented in the form of - periodic tests,examinations,viva-voce,practical exams,internal assessments,project thesis (oof...) ,finally people tend to get a sigh of relief when they join profession.But as luck would have it , there enters the concept of " Quality System Audits " to check whether one does things as defined by organization !! For few right from beginning all these checks are a cakewalk but for a majority these acts present themselves as Damocles sword. In profession how to sway away the fear of Quality Audits !Read the article 'Auditophobia!' published in http://www.thequalityportal.com/gs/gseries.htm

Friday, November 25, 2005

C.U.S.T.O.M.E.R

Books on Management and the words of Management gurus define ‘Customer’ in numerous ways . Right from the days of ancient civilizations , success of a business has been essentially determined by none other than the “King” Customer .From a petty retail trade to cutting edge technology solutions, Customer and Customer Service holds the key for success in business.In this context , one of the interesting definitions on Customer & Customer Service from a person not directly connected to business, calls for a special mention.It comes from - Mahatma Gandhi, who is fondly remembered as ‘Father of the Indian Nation’ .

"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it.He is not an outsider to our business. He is part of it.We are not doing him a favour by serving him.He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so."- Mahatma Gandhi( 1869- 1948)

These perspicuous thoughts from a legend , conveys a noteworthy message for today’s modern business ,where Customer Relationship Management (CRM) rules the roast .

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

NUTS & BOLTS

This section is intended to give an overview on some basic fundamental concepts related to Business processes, Quality Management System, Information security, Knowledge Management etc...Here we go …!!

Right from the early days when, “Management” evolved as a separate discipline, there has been lot of theories and concepts. The four schools of thought-Classical approach, Behavioral approach, Quantitative approach, & Modern approach on Management gained prominence with their own merits and demerits. The various thought models and frameworks like Maslow’s needs theory, Theory X and Theory Y, Taylor’s Scientific Management, Hawthorne effect, Systems theory etc.. complemented the evolution of Management practices. Once these practices were well established , there came the time to standardize the Management systems on a common line of understanding to facilitate business in the international arena.To cater to this need of business community - Quality Management models, standards and frameworks were developed .

The latest Quality models and frameworks that are well prevalent in few industries are listed below.Standard/Frameworks/Concepts :CMMIAcronym :Capability Maturity Model IntegrationIndustry :Software and System (Manufacturing industries )Though proclaimed to be applicable for any standardsDescription :§ Process improvement framework , to establish and maintain effective and efficient processes § Has two representations-Continuous and Staged§ Assessments are carried out by external agencies§ Once assessed at particular level ,it holds good for the entire life span of organization !!§ Replaces the earlier existed CMM model§ Governed by Software Engineering Institute (SEI)of Carnegie Mellon University www.sei.cmu.edu

Standard/Frameworks/Concepts : CoBITAcronym : Control of Business Objectives for Information TechnologyIndustry : IT related systems for any industriesDescription :§ Comprehensive IT governance framework which elaborately address the best practices of Information security§ Issued by IT Governance Institute, which is a part of ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association)http://www.isaca.org/

More standards and frameworks will be presented in subsequent sections of 'Nuts & Bolts '..